Should I even up costs?

[Sprogonthetyne]

I'm super lucky that exact toy that DS(6) has been asking for popped up on our local Facebook pass it on page today, just been to pick it up from someone having a pre Christmas clear out. The conundrum is, this was going to be DS's main present, and would have cost around £50 new, which is about half his budget. Should I still

A. Still get the same other bits I'd planned, and save £50

B. Get more so kids have equal spend, but he will likely have more then sibling (3)

The reality is that sometimes the spend can't be equal. Eg one child might get a piece of tech like a games console
I'd go for A. Children have no clue how much things cost so equal spend is for your benefit rather than theirs. Maybe ds(3) gifts will be available at a discount ?

I’d do A

Treating fairly doesn't always mean treating identically. Sometimes one will cost more, sometimes the other.

Use the money saved to treat both of them... or pay a bill!

Save the money! He’ll be delighted to get what he wanted and won’t know you got a bargain so absolutely no need to buy more on top.

Was it free so you're £50 up?

Perhaps somewhere in between but your 3 yo will never know so I would just make sure they each have the amount of gifts you want them to have.

As its second hand, I'd prob take £30 off his budget so spend £70 on him plus toy instead of £100. Then use the £30 either for an extra treat or towards the electricity bill!!

I've never worried about spend, more the value to them iyswim. If they've both got their main want that's fine. It evens up over the years.

Yes, it was really kind of the person, as they probably could have sold it. It's a ridiculously big dinosaur, so has the wow factor while they're into dinosaurs, but kind of inconvenient to store once they outgrow it, so she just wanted the space back.

Save the money!
My DC's Christmas presents differed by over £100 a couple of years ago. They both got exactjly what they wanted, and were delighted.

Don't start with the 'equal monetary value vs equal rice vs equal Number of parcels nonsense: that way madness lies.

They each get the main gift they asked for if you can afford it and then a selection of smaller fun bits. A shared experience can be made into a great gift for everyone.

You got it free: Will he love it less? Of course not. If you feel bad not spending the money then use it to take all three to
visit Santa in a garden centre or department shop and buy one of the gift photos.

Well done on your thriftiness! 😀

Thanks for the replies, consensus seems to be I don't need to feel guilty about saving the money, so I'll put the £50 aside for an outing over the Christmas holidays (if I haven't had to dip into it for gas)

I would always make sure each child had the same amount of presents regardless of value.

So you'd buy one child a gaming console worth hundreds and the other a board game for £30 and consider that fair?

I think I'm going to go by number of gifts at that age rather than cost. They have no idea about the cost of stuff and it will even out over the years

Number of gifts should be equal, coat doesn't matter at all at that age imo.

Save the money, it will equal up over time. One year one of our DDs main present cost £8 from a charity shop, dd was ecstatic with it. The next year £4 from charity shop. She has no idea they were second hand, 4 years later she just remembers getting the one thing she really wanted.

If the money is just sat there and you want to make sure DS gets it, put it in a bank account for him. The same DD who got the cheap Xmas presents never knows what to buy or wants anything when we do a rare treats for the DCs, so when we get home I give her a few £ to put in her money box to spend later so she doesn’t miss out. At Christmas though it’s about equal quantity rather than money for us.

I did last year, £300 switch vs an Emma Watson picture and signature off Amazon for £9.99 and a book £7 she wanted by one of her favourite YouTubers, Absolutely nothing wrong with it, my DD loves Emma Watson and was begging me to insta and tweet a picture of her with the book. Her Christmas was perfect that’s all that matters.

I wouldn't even it out. Your dc all will have the benefit of presents worth the same amount. I'd use any money saving for an extra treat for everyone.

Save the money. The gift is still the Same gift even though it was free!

I dont know how to respond... I keep the number and price equal, its really not hard to do and there loads of ideas I have at all different price points so say for example:

I had planned to spend £50 on a main present for DS and then £20, £15, 3x £10 but I get it in the sale for £20 I would just add that £30 into the spend for the other gifts (upping the budget of whats left) making it say £20, £26, £21, 3x £16 this would allow more freedom to get more expensive versions or a more expensive toy that hadnt fit in the budget before rather than adding extra toys in number.

I'd use the money to have a trip out as a family. Kids that age see size and quantity rather than cost. They won't remember what they got in a years time, but they'll remember a day out for tears to come

You don't need to spend the same on small children. They have no idea of the monetary value of things so it's a pointless exercise.

No, I wouldn't even up costs. Save the money for something else and consider it a fantastic freebie. If you were really feeling bad about it, you could split the £50 saved and add £25 to each child's budget and get them something else each.

We have a 6 year age gap with ours and they are now adult , I’ve never pricematched . When they were small we tried to get roughly the same amount of presents but that’s as far as it went . We always figured it’s swings and roundabouts as one year one might have a £4/500 console as a main gift and the other may have a laptop another year IYSWIM .